It’s Not Sculpture includes seven artists with seven distinct creative languages to draw attention to a challenge against sculpture as a traditional art-form. Given the extension and re-interpretation of the sculptural works on display, whether these works are “sculptures” is no longer the essential question. The prevalence of the traditional view limits our understanding of sculpture to an established framework, and makes the essential qualities of sculpture too obscure for viewers to perceive.
This exhibition sets out from the transformations and relations of works and spaces, and extracts the spirit of sculpture from a framework so defined by traditional understanding. Its effect is a pure and fruitful exchange between works and viewers.
On-site description
“This is another example of my curating which turned out rather nicely. I have a long-time special predilection for mirrors. The End is also one of my favourite works. I asked for a small space at a corner in this exhibition, and filled it with mirrors. Two walls of this space form an oblique angle. A girl peeps through onto the outside – this alone creates a strongly illusory effect. The wall on the exterior is white; a swelling, convex reflecting surface protrudes from it, reflecting the image of another girl on the other side of the wall. Light is contained within the interior space, only a shining beam is let out through a small hole. This beam is held up by the girl’s enclosing palms, illuminating her face. The sense of displacement in time caused by the many dimensions of space and various light source is what I wished to express, which reminds me of a film which I liked as a young woman, La Double Vie de Véronique (The Double Life of Véronique).” – Xiang Jing
Participating artists: Xiang Jing, Chen Wenling, Shi Jinsong, Li Wei, Wu Yuren, Wu Di, Xu Heng, Zhang Yi.